Sunday, April 20, 2008

Wandering...

<----- a long exposure shot from last night..

Today was about wandering up to the Uam Park. It is named for some.. well... variously named Korean guy who I can't seem to find on the intarwebs. Still, it is a pretty little park, will certainly be a cool place to picnick when the OAF arrives, and behind it a series of trails lace the mountains. They all seem to lead back into Daejeon, which means that getting truly lost is pretty impossible as you're never more than a mile from the bottom of a hill, a road, and therefore a taxi.

There is also a nice looking little restaurant up behind the park - tucked into a little hollow with some trees overhanging. Another likely place to hang out when the full heat (and humidity of summer) is on me.

The Ajumma and Ajeossi were out in full force on the trails and it always boggles me the amount of clothing they can wear in some pretty decent heat. I would have been dead from heat-stroke in very few minutes, but except for one wussy-dude, they all made it to the top.

Finally, I am blessedly free of the hangover TSR gave me yesterday. The son of a bitch made world-class chili-con-carne, provided good conversation, and left the bottle of mandarin-infused soju in front of me.

I practically had to drink it, as I had accidentally (well, on purpose, but without knowing what it meant) drunk a glass of Korean wine. Some truly nasty tipple. I've been known to drink most anything, but that bottle of wine sat, forlornly on the table, unfinished. In fact, not a second glass was poured. It tasted like children's medicine, sweet, sickly, and chemical.

The wife (Korean) of the third guy there had purchased it and by the time we had all tasted it he had virutally dislocated his entire ego in apology. The wife had also purchased us a cake, so that was ok. But, man,..... you live in Korea... It gets hot and humid ... it freezes solid.. it has brief periods of temperance... how in the world did anyone think a wine grape could be grown in this climate?

If this is South Korea's version of juche, let it rot!

Anyway, the pics here are all of today's ramble, and, as usual, I have no idea what the bird included here is... other than, as HYS notes, it undoubtedly would taste like chicken. ;-)

When I got home the front door was open and there were some puddles of water on the tiles. This is not so unusual, as BPU pays an Ajumma to come by and clean the common areas of our apartment. She's pretty thorough, and the mop is her main weapon. So I expected to see her as I came around the corner. Instead I found Adam on a rickety stepladder, with a hose, attempting to siphon off the water flooding out of the boiler for the apartment on the bottom level. For some reason or other, the emergency (safety) overflow valve had tripped and water was pouring out the bottom of the thing. In the picture below that thing on the left that looks like a clear pipe is actually water pouring out.

The good folks at BPU were on the scene pretty quickly, and by the time I was back out of my apartment to come to the PC Bang, only a few traces of water remained on the floor and the front door was still open to let the drying continue.

Too bad, really.

I like other people's tragedies to be dramatic.

Alas.

Anyway, the pic is here...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Koreans are over-generous when treating a guest or a foreigner. The wife probably bought a wine just because everyone there is practically foreigners. I bet she didn't drink, or intended to drink the wine herself. Not a single Korean I know drinks wine because it is great. I hope the wife didn't go home feeling completely apologetic and sorry for trying to be nice...

BKF

Charles Montgomery said...

BKF

The Korean wife was safely at home. Had she been there I'd have struggled it down. ;-)